Bike riding after midnight leads to clown attack

A man and woman riding bicycles a few minutes after midnight Tuesday in Orange were robbed by two men, one of whom wore a clown mask, Orange police reported.

The victims, a 17-year-old man and a 29-year-old woman, gave police addresses in the Cove neighborhood of Orange, several miles south of The Oaks apartment complex where the robbery was reported.

The robber wearing the clown mask punched the woman in the mouth and she fell off her bike, Orange Police Capt. C.J. Hargrave reported. The other suspect pushed the man off his bike, picked it up, swung it at the man and struck him in the head, Hargrave said.

The two crooks rode away on the bikes with the headband lights the cyclists wore, Hargrave said. When one victim called police on his cell phone, one robber returned, took the cell phone, and rode off again, the victim told police.

The robbers were described as black, ages 14 to 17. The one wearing the mask was about 5 feet, 9 inches tall and the other one was shorter, Hargrave reported. The man's bike is a Next brand purple and silver model. The woman had a blue and white Roadmaster, police reported.